This release does not have any new features.

• User Interface Enhancements
  • Speech-to-text for chat conversations—Speech-to-text allows a user to dictate a text message to one or more users or groups. Combined with the hot word feature, a user can now send a text message completely hands-free. The chat conversations are secured by encrypting signaling between devices and the server.
  • Editing alert response—Allows a user to update alert response after the initial response. This option is enabled on your Smartbadge when your administrator enables this setting on the Vocera Messaging Platform.
  • Suggestive text and keyboard optimization—The keyboard layout is now changed to increase ease of use and accuracy. Predictive text speeds text entry by allowing the user to select the word instead of typing it.
  • Screen tips—Screen tips are now provided to define blank screens.
  • Audible clicks on key-press during keyboard use—A user now has the option to turn on audible audio feedback for the keyboard through badge settings.
  • Push-to-talk button timing (PTT)— Allows the user to set the PTT timing to suit their needs.
  • User-selectable call button timer—Allows the user to set the duration of time that the Call button must be touched before a call is placed.
  • Scrolling enhancement—Scrolling experience within the call log, directory, and search results are improved.
  • Badge settings grouping—Badge settings are now grouped into entries to improve usability.
• Wi-Fi Connectivity Enhancements
  • Certificate for Wi-Fi authentication—Support for SHA512 and SHA384 signed certificates are now provided.
  • DTLS support—Vocera Smartbadge now supports Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) for signaling encryption.
  • Enhancement to channels to scan feature—Channels to scan feature is now enhanced for efficient scanning. ChannelsToScan is a combined list of 2.4 and 5G hz channels. If this property is specified in the badge.properties file, then only the list of channels specified is used to perform full scans by the badge, which optimizes scan time and reduces the amount of active radio time. If ChannelsToScan property is not specified in the badge.properties, then by default, the badge performs a full scan of all supported 5ghz channels, including DFS channels.

Placing Direct Calls from Vocera Devices

As part of the Vocera care team connect solution, the new direct call feature enables the communication between the patient and the caregiver in bed locations that lack nurse call. This feature reduces the need to don and doff PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and improve the patient experience.

When the direct call feature is enabled on Vocera Voice Server Console and Vocera devices, the user can press the Call button to immediately place a call to a predefined recipient without having to interact with the genie. The direct call recipient can be another user, group, or a contact in the system.

To enable this feature, set the customer badge property V5.DirectCallEnabled true using the BCU or through the VCB menu only. Do not add this property to the Badge.Properties of the Vocera Server. The default value of the badge property is false.

Vocera recommends the following:

• Do not enable this property on the Vocera device of caregivers.
• Do not add the V5.DirectCallEnabled property to the Badge.Properties of the Voice Server.

For information on Vocera device usage guidelines for the Direct Call feature, refer to the Vocera V-Series Smartbadge User Guide, Vocera B-Series Badge User Guide, and Vocera Device Configuration Guide available on Vocera Documentation Portal.

With Smartbadge, Vocera introduced its first touch screen along with a touch sensor as the Call button. Due to the nature of wearable devices, fingers are not the only surfaces that come into contact with a touch sensor. Wrists, forearms, and other material may come into contact with the touch sensor leading to calls being initiated accidentally.

To mitigate this, Vocera has introduced a capability in the Smartbadge using the touch surface on display, the proximity sensor, and the Call touch sensor to assess whether a user has placed a call intentionally or accidentally. If an accidental call is detected, the Smartbadge will log the event, but not place a call. Internal testing has shown this new capability to reduce the number of accidental calls that are placed.

This new capability does not change the Call touch sensor behavior when a finger or thumb is placed on the touch sensor. Neither does it change the behavior of the Panic button in any way.

For those customers who are experiencing accidental calls through the touch sensor, Vocera would like to invite these customers to evaluate the changes in the Smartbadge firmware, which introduces the accidental call detection.

This new firmware is based on the 5.0.3.45, which was generally available in December 2019. This new firmware is labeled as 5.0.3.45 [12.4].

Any customers who deploy this firmware are encouraged to send Voice Server logs to Vocera in order to measure how effective this feature is in reducing the number of accidental calls.

• Bluetooth headset certification—Bluetooth headsets are now certified to be used with V5000 Smartbadge.
• USB C digital headsets—Vocera Smartbadge supports the use of USB-C digital headsets. Due to the variety in configurations and performance of digital USB-C headsets, it is recommended to choose USB-C headsets that are targeted for laptops and Android smartphones. This feature is enabled by the following badge property V5._EnableDigitalHS_ [True|False]. The default value is false.
• Wake Word to initiate a Genie call—Vocera Smartbadge now has the ability to respond to the spoken voice command OK Vocera to initiate a Genie call without the user having to touch the Call button for a true, hands-free calling experience. This feature is enabled through the badge property V5.EnableHotword [True|False]. The default value of the property is False.
• PIN Authentication—An authentication PIN can be enabled to identify the user logging into the Smartbadge. As the user presses the Call button, the genie enunciates an invitation for the user name and then requests a PIN for authentication. The user PIN requirement is set up by the administrator. To further secure the experience, the authentication PIN is prompted after the session timeout. However, calls, messages, and alerts are delivered even after session timeout. But to interact with the screen, the PIN must be entered.
• Log File Enhancement—ARP entries are now displayed in the Smartbadge log files.
• Wi-Fi Changes
  • A badge property V5.ForceIGMPVersion introduced to force specific IGMP versions to be adopted. The default value is IGMP v3.
  • The Linux TCP Selective Acknowledgement (SACK) vulnerability detailed in CVE-2019-11477, CVE-2019-11478, and CVE-2019-11479 have been mitigated in this release.
• No Response Notification—If no response is received to a message sent from the web console or the Vocera Collaboration Suite app within the response timeout timeframe, a notification is received on the Vocera Smartbadge.
• User Interface Enhancements
  • The volume settings are now available for speaker, handset, headset, and Bluetooth audio paths. The volume settings are saved in the user profile.
  • Configurable delay for the Panic Button operation is introduced. The default is 1 second and can be controlled through the badge property V5.PanicDelayDurationMS = 100-5000 (msec).
  • When a call is forwarded to an external phone number, the forwarded number is hidden.
  • Two new options, Broadcast and Urgent Broadcast are introduced for Groups in the interface.
  • Turn the screen off by swiping to the right on any primary screen such as Event/Home, Directory, and Settings screens.
  • Haptic touch for the keyboard is a user option, accessible through user settings. A vibration can be felt when typing to aid in typing accuracy.
  • Expired messages and alerts are automatically removed from the Events screen to reduce clutter.
  • Page callback option now available to call a Vocera user directly rather than routing the callback as an outside call.
  • The callback button now displayed and supported for VMI messages.

• Support for Mass Notifications—You can send messages to more than 50 participants at a time.
• Calling Extensions and Outside Numbers—A dial pad is added to call extensions and outside numbers.
• Handset Mode Enhancements—Touchscreen is disabled while on a call to prevent accidental hang-ups.
• Localization —Spelling and date formats for non US locales are implemented.
• Haptic Call button Changes
  • The timers and intensity of the haptic touch feedback on the call button have been refined.
  • The welcome text has been updated to indicate, “Please touch the call button to log in.”
  • The welcome prompt has been updated to enunciate, “Please touch the call button to login.”
• Minimum Volume Setting—The minimum volume setting has been set to 1, in alignment with the B3000n. A badge property to adjust this value is available.
• Home Screen Enhancements
  • The filter tab now has an option to select alerts.
  • Swiping right from the Home screen turns off the display.
• Keypad Enhancements
  • Entering an end of sentence punctuation such as “.”, “!”, “?” auto-capitalizes the next letter typed.
  • Pressing the space bar twice rapidly adds a “.” full stop automatically.
  • Holding down the delete key does now delete multiple characters.
• Wi-Fi Changes
  • UAPSD is disabled by default.
  • 802.1x Server Certificate validation is disabled by default.
  • The active scan dwell time is reduced to decrease voice packet jitter.
  • Real Time Clock sleep timer is reduced to provide rapid response to incoming calls.
  • When the Smartbadge is off network, access to messages and history is restricted.
  • The Association ID is now displayed in the log files.
• Bluetooth Support—The V5000 Smartbadge firmware now provides support for Bluetooth headsets. After you pair your headset with any Smartbadge, the pairing information is saved in the Vocera User Profile on the Vocera Server, and you do not have to pair your headset again when you change Smartbadges.

• DND now indicates which timer option has been selected
• The Home screen (integrated inbox) now contains the full title of individuals
• A user can be added to Favorites from Call history details
• Call disposition is now indicated by an icon instead of a description
• Panic Calls are now implemented without any visual indication on the display

• Secure messaging feature with a 2.4-inch touchscreen display and keyboard.
• Smoother and more natural conversation with new audio technology.
• Search Users, Groups, or both across the entire directory without scrolling the full directory.
• Haptic touch-enabled Call button.
• Discrete volume keys.
• A dedicated, one-touch panic button for faster and easier communication in case of emergencies.
• DND setting with timer options.
• USB charging with a headset port.
• Audio options during an active call.
• Intuitive user experience with a consistent design of Vocera Vina smartphone application for ease of use.

• G5W-9528—The status of a new message in a conversation was marked read when the device screen was switched off, the conversation was open, and a new message for that conversation was received.
• G5W-9541—When Raise to Wake feature was enabled, incoming messages automatically opened without user intervention.

• G5W-5102—When replying to an MCR response by voice, the responded option is not displayed.
• G5W-5608—Smartbadge updates firmware multiple times in a cluster setup if the Voice Server nodes have different firmware versions installed.
• G5W-5826—MCR status on UI does not get updated if the user provides a voice response to the enunciated VMI messages (all messages.)
• G5W-6239—Response from the Smartbadge to server pings are delayed.
• G5W-6900—UI displays the name of the conference initiator twice on the Smartbadge of the user accepting the conference call first.
• G5W-6987—The chat icon inside a conversation disappears when a user clicks the Choose a Response option.
• G5W-7002—A USB-C digital headset may not be detected when handset mode is enabled.
• G5W-7016—Voice message events are not displayed under call logs.
• G5W-7180—If the screen is turned off when contact details are open, and the call button is pressed, a call is placed to the contact, instead of the genie

• G5W-3253—When 80MHz or 40MHz channels were enabled on the WLAN controller, the Smartbadge only display the center frequency. The Smartbadge now displays the Primary Channel.
• G5W-3538—Smartbadge did not delete the expired message sent from Vocera Collaboration Suite using a message template.
• G5W-3391—A message sent from the Vocera Collaboration Suite did not display a subject.
• G5W-3890—Participants list for a text message sent to a distribution list did not display on the senders call log.
• G5W-3939—A received VMI message with a callback option did not display the CallBack button.
• G5W-3947—A received Page with a callback option did not display the CallBack button.
• G5W-4195—Aruba quiet IE feature causes the radio to stop transmitting.
• G5W-4392—Smartbadge sometimes displayed Requesting IP address after continuously failing to authenticate.
• G5W-4831—Users could not accept, decline, or hold an incoming broadcast while a broadcast call was in progress.
• G5W-5324—Event icons were missing when a call log event was tapped twice.
• G5W-5405—Incoming Call screen did not display when PTT Rx was interrupted by an incoming call.
• G5W-5694—Add and Call buttons disappeared in a chat participant screen.
• G5W-5707—Choppy audio was observed with Aruba Infrastructure when UAPSD was disabled on the AP, and UAPSD enabled on the Smartbadge.
• G5W-5739—While navigating between Chats and Participants screens, the Call button sometimes disappeared.
• G5W-5742—Favorite and unfavorite action could not be performed accurately by one-click on the Favorite button.
• G5W-5744—Quick reply and Keyboard options disappeared in the chat layer.
• G5W-5815—Pressing the DND button during the Welcome Tutorial did not end the tutorial while a call was on hold with another call.
• G5W-5927—Broadcast audio was not heard on the Bluetooth headset.
• G5W-5968—802.11v was being erroneously enabled and was not functional. It is now disabled.
• G5W-5994—If the title name of a participant was more than 15 characters, the title was truncated.
• G5W-6020—When announcing through the speaker option is on, the audio prompts played out of the speaker, in the handset mode, had lower volume than the speaker mode.
• G5W-6125—Could not place calls to a telephone number using a dial pad after putting the ongoing call on hold.
• G5W-6178—Received page alert did not display under messages or alerts.
• G5W-6204—Genie did not respond if the call button was held for 1.5 seconds to log in.
• G5W-6212—There was no audio between a Smartbadge and a Badge in a conference while another unicast call between them was on hold.
• G5W-6270—Expired alerts were not removed.
• G5W-6271—The alert expired message was not displayed when a user viewed an expired alert.
• G5W-6272—Response options were not hidden when an alert expired.
• G5W-6326—Setting server IP address from the Admin menu returned an error for a valid IPv4 address.
• G5W-6399—Notification tone was played, and a notification banner was displayed for an outgoing page.
• G5W-6402—Quick Reply option displayed Press and Hold Selection to edit twice on the Smartbadge.
• G5W-6569—No IGMP version was displayed in the badge logs.
• G5W-6719—While on the standby mode, the Smartbadge received a roam trigger event at RSSI -68 instead of -73.
• G5W-6872—Echo could sometimes be heard at the far end in the Handset Mode.
• G5W-6905—Keypad and search icons were missing in Group filtered Directory layer.
• G5W-6986—Responding to an MCR option required multiple taps sometimes.
• G5W-7182 —A Page that has been read, maybe flagged as unread if a user logs out and logs back in again.

• G5W-3476—When in a Conference call and placing the current call on hold to make another call, the GUI does not indicate that there are multiple calls in progress.
• G5W-3845—Mass distribution message appears as a conversation message instead of appearing as a notification message.
• G5W-3888—Mass distribution message send to a group with more than 50 members does not display the participant list.
• G5W-3917—When a message with attachments is sent from VCS to the Smartbadge, clicking "show more messages", displays empty messages and not messages with attachment.
• G5W-3924—When a message is sent from VCS to a distribution list of participants using Smartbadge, the following error is displayed No recipients found! Add participant(s) to continue!.
• G5W-4109—When in off-campus mode the Smartbadge would occasionally assert
• G5W-4246—On rare occasions when moving through the “Request IP address” stage the Wi-Fi radio would not return to power save mode
• G5W-4095—The split scan channel list would continue to increase. This has now been restricted to a limit of 10 channels
• G5W-4383—VMI messages from the Voice Server does not display VMI option response selection.
• G5W-4431—Voice messages are not received if the Do Not Disturb (DND) button is pressed before the arrival of the notification banner.
• G5W-4468—Ongoing panic call ends if the receiver gets an incoming call and selects the hold and accept option from the call screen.
• G5W-4686—A Smartbadge configured into handset mode permanently does not enunciate incoming calls, even if it is configured in the Voice Server.
• G5W-4756—Smartbadge screen is not responsive if the call is initiated from a chat session
• G5W-4772—Roam failure reason codes have now been added to Smartbadge logs
• G5W-4778—Missed call and message alerts are not enunciated when the user returns online after being off-network for a short while.

• G5W-1609—When roaming frequently, the radio driver would occasionally restart.
• G5W-2845—Vibrator sometimes stayed on at times after the call button was triggered.
• G5W-3074—Messages received from the web console did not contain a subject line.
• G5W-3166—Blank space appeared at the upper layer of the Directory screen.
• G5W-3364—When a USB-C analog headset was used, a pop sound was sometimes heard in idle mode.
• G5W-3379—Urgent voice Messages are displayed as normal messages in the call history
• G5W-3536—When selecting a timer for the DND feature, there is no indication which timer option has been selected.
• G5W-3560—Messages with attachments received from the web console were not indicated in the Smartbadge.
• G5W-3632—In certain circumstances, when using the Secure Chat functionality, a white box concealed a portion of the display.
• G5W-3752—Audible beep was not heard for unread message reminder alerts on the Smartbadge when the user was in DND mode.
• G5W-3768—Audible beep was not heard for unread message reminder alerts on the Smartbadge.
• G5W-3796—Voice message state was not updated after the voice message was played.
• G5W-3846—When viewing search results after searching for users in the Directory, the status of the search result was sometimes not correct.
• G5W-3850—When placing a Panic call on hold, the display did not reflect that the call was held.
• G5W-3881—There were no options to accept or decline the incoming call when a panic call was in progress on the press.
• G5W-3882—Message status did not update when a regular message was sent along with an urgent message.
• G5W-3894—An alert containing an initial long string of characters may be truncated. Subsequent words in the alert are not truncated.
• G5W-3906—Chat and call buttons persisted on the call history screen.
• G5W-3916—It was not possible to add Vocera Secure Text users to new conversations.
• G5W-3930—The search icon was displayed in the Group view.
• G5W-3941—Double-clicking contact titles in a list opened a gray text box.
• G5W-3984—When a call was initiated to a Group member, the call was placed to the Group instead of the Group member.
• G5W-3993—Pressing the DND button during Instant Conference did not invoke the Genie.
• G5W-3996—Screen would sometimes turn off while trying to send a text message when the Smartbadge was in a call using the handset mode.
• G5W-4031—Smartbadge did not go out of DND mode if a call was initiated from the Smartbadge screen.
• G5W-4037—Initials were missing when the voice message was received for the first time from a user.
• G5W-4041—Smartbadge lost all the call history after a power cycle.
• G5W-4061—Voice message status received from yourself always appeared unplayed.
• G5W-4106—Message status were not updated when the user received a message while on chat screen.
• G5W-4107—The chat and call buttons on the user details screen disappeared.
• G5W-4121—The following error message "No recipients found!Add participants to continue!" appeared up when a Smartbadge called a Vocera Secure Text user.
• G5W-4130—The call icon was still filled with color even after ending an Urgent call that was placed to a contact from the favorite list.
• G5W-4145—When rejoining a held broadcast call, the Genie call screen was displayed.
• G5W-4194—With EAP authentication even if a PAC file was expired the Smartbadge will attempt to use the expired PAC file
• G5W-4286—Broadcast call appeared as an "Unidentified call" in the call history.
• G5W-4312—The Smartbadge did not authenticate correctly with an IAS authentication server with using PEAP authentication.
• G5W-4404—In the search screen, the availability status of a user appeared grey for unavailable users.
• G5W-4449—Group icon was missing in the Group view.
• G5W-4457—Users with on-call and monitor statuses did not receive a message.
• G5W-4490—Voice messages appeared played when a user logged out and then logged back in again.
• G5W-4572—Pressing the physical Call button did not Hold and Accept the incoming call during a panic call session.

• G5W-4175 —If a user tries to open a voice message while in an active call, a Restart UI message may appear.

• G5W-3598—When receiving an Urgent message, two entries may appear in the message history. One for the enunciated call and one for the message.
• G5W-3564—When receiving an alert from a monitor alarm system, the subject may be truncated in the summary view.
• G5W-3573—If a completely drained battery is inserted into the V5000 Smartbadge and a USB C charger is applied, the Smartbadge may fail to boot correctly. The workaround is to insert a battery that has some charge in it.
• G5W-3559—When the calling party is put on hold by a remote party, there is no visual indication that the local user has been put on hold.
• G5W-2187—Speech Zone Fallback has been integrated for V5000 Smartbadge.
• G5W-3591—The internal Smartbadge prompts now use the same voice as the Vocera Genie (Jennifer.)
• G5W-2970—Search result screens can be scrolled in portrait mode.
• G5W-1753—Battery and charging status is displayed in an overlay when a charger is connected.

As part of the resistance to dust and water ingress, the removable battery is a snug fit when initially deployed with the Smartbadge. When removing the battery after sliding the latch to the red position, it is recommended to apply a little pressure in the direction of the USB-C socket to ease the removal of the battery.

The following list provides information about known issues in the 5.0.4 firmware and the Vocera Smartbadge:

• G5W-2809—LEAP authentication may fail due to an incorrect size PMK.
• G5W-2900—During an 802.1x association, the first attempt may fail due to a delay, causing a a successful second attempt.
• G5W-2987—When using 802.11r roaming, Smartbadge does not support FT-Over DS roaming; it supports over-the-air roaming.
• G5W-3026—When using Cisco WLC 8.3, where both 802.11ac and 802.11n are disabled, the Smartbadge ping messages are not passed to the Vocera Voice server. This problem is resolved with Cisco WLC 8.5.
• G5W-3546—V5000 Smartbadge does not display the escalation group member list.
• G5W-3566—When deploying the Vocera Smartbadge with a standalone AP in a test environment, the Smartbadge may take several minutes to complete its DHCP transaction. This problem does not occur in a Wireless LAN environment.
• G5W-3925—When a conversation that expires in 5 minutes is initiated from VCS to the Smartbadge, a notification of the conversation expiry is not displayed.
• G5W-3933—When a conversation with MCR that expires in 5 minutes is initiated from VCS to the Smartbadge, a notification of the conversation expiry is not displayed.
• G5W-4802—While typing messages, keys in the keyboard occasionally do not go back to the original position.
• G5W-5282—When a call transfer is in progress, and the user attempts to end the transfer by pressing the DND button, the transfer is completed instead of being ended.
• G5W-5372—The participant list is empty when a call is placed to an external number.
• G5W-5979—Group name is not displayed in the initiator Smartbadge during a broadcast call.
• G5W-6017—If the Directory screen is closed and re-opened after a minute, the Directory screen does not display the default Favorites page in the Directory screen.
• G5W-6028—Speech recognition scores are low with the Plantronics MX55 BT headset.
• G5W-6344—Message indicating successful PIN setup pops up for less than a second.
• G5W-6395—Selecting a time for DND is considered as input when entering or creating the PIN.
• G5W-6722—No audio is played through the Kimwood and CTXTKER digital USB-C headset.
• G5W-7027—After you update the PIN timeout values, the Vocera Smartbadge still uses the old PIN timeout value while prompting for the PIN entry.
• G5W-7497—V5000 Smartbadge does not detect Kimwood USB-C digital headset.
• G5W-7713—Smartbadge asserted on receiving a conference call with a digital USB-C headset.
• G5W-7714—No audio heard on the Ecoker, and Samsung headset after two or more calls are placed.
• G5W-7742—If you receive a voice message notification along with enunciation while transcribing a message, the display is navigated to the call log screen, and the transcribed message is lost.
• G5W-7745—Scan for Wireless Access Points (APs) does not list all APs as roam candidates.
• G5W-7794—When one caller drops out of a three-way conference call, the dropped party is listed as still connected.
• G5W-7810—Genie icon continues to display on the status bar after a speech-to-text message is sent.